Pastors are urging believers to remain steadfast in the face of persecution after a “transgender” assailant targeted Catholic students in Minneapolis.

Robert “Robin” Westman, 23, a biological male who identified as “transgender,” opened fire on Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on August 27 — killing two children and injuring 17 others during a back-to-school Mass, as The Dallas Express previously reported. Westman left behind explicitly anti-Christian messages.

Now, pastors are warning that this is part of a larger trend.

“At some point, we’re going to have to start having a conversation about the links between these acts of violence and this horrific ideology,” said Republican state Rep. Nate Schatzline to The Dallas Express. 

Schatzline, who’s on the pastoral team at Mercy Culture Church in Fort Worth, said the latest tragedy was just the latest in a pattern of increasing violence, due to a culture that has “enabled and encouraged mental illness.”

“Transgenderism is an absolute sign of mental illness, as well as – in many ways – demonic influence,” he said. “We can’t ignore the fact that so many of these violent acts that have taken place have links to those who identify as ‘trans.’” 

A Violent Pattern

In recent years, multiple mass shooters have identified as “transgender,” from the Covenant School shooter in Nashville to the STEM Highlands Ranch shooter near Denver, and now the Annunciation Church shooter in Minneapolis.

Several “transgender” suspects were also involved in the alleged July 4 ambush of an ICE facility near Fort Worth, where a local officer was shot in the neck, as The Dallas Express reported. A radical “trans” terror cell linked to multiple murders has also been operating nationwide.

“It’s time, once and for all, for Texas to establish that transgenderism is a mental illness. That way it can start being treated, not enabled and not encouraged,” Schatzline said. 

Schatzline added that this kind of violence “usually comes from the left.”

“It’s people who are intolerant of not just conservatism, but Christianity altogether,” he said. “We see a chilling effect throughout our country as the left is inciting violence not just against Christians, but against our Christian children.”

As The Dallas Express previously reported, investigators have not identified a clear motive in the Minneapolis attack. However, evidence recovered from the scene and online included anti-Christian, anti-Trump, and antisemitic messages. The shooter, Robert “Robin” Westman, also expressed regret about transitioning and said he was ‘tired of being trans.’

According to a Family Research Council report cited by Fox News, hostility toward Christian churches has surged nationwide. The report documented 415 hostile acts targeting 383 churches across 43 states in 2024 alone — including vandalism, arson, bomb threats, and shootings. That figure was more than double the number reported in 2022. Since 2018, the group has tracked nearly 1,400 incidents of hostility against churches.

Conservative commentators also reacted strongly online. “Don’t get it twisted. This is an all-out war on Christianity,” Sandra Loftis wrote on X.

The report warned that declining church attendance and cultural shifts away from Christianity have created an environment where attacks are more tolerated. President Donald Trump responded in February by issuing an executive order creating a federal task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias.”

Democrat Far-Left Response

After the recent shooting in Minneapolis, numerous users of the online platform Reddit celebrated. 

A user even called to “target white Christian churches” to pass gun control.

“MORE DEAD CHRISTIANS LOL,” one user wrote.

“Based. Take the fight to their kids so they can feel what it’s like to be attacked for your identity,” wrote another. 

“Am I supposed to feel bad that rich Christian kids are gone? Good riddance,” yet another wrote.

This is personal for Schatzline. He told The Dallas Express a “large group” of leftists – one of whom was armed – gathered outside his daughter’s preschool during the last legislative session. 

“One of them had a pistol by his side,” Schatzline said. “He’s shouting obscenities at children, because he knows my children go to school there.”

The armed protester had demonstrated outside the legislator’s home in 2022.

Churches Respond

Pastor Troy Jackson, of New Beginnings Church in DeSoto, told The Dallas Express, “Contempt for biblical faith isn’t theoretical; it’s bleeding in our pews.”

“The Minneapolis massacre was an assault on Christian worship and the innocence of our children,” he said. “In a moment like this, the Church must mourn and minister, yes, but also stand watch.”

He said churches should “refuse to be bullied into silence,” and called for Christian unity between all denominations. According to Jackson, all preach “Christ crucified and risen” and “all bleed when evil strikes.”

“In this hour we refuse to be splintered by secondary disputes while our families are targeted and our freedoms mocked,” Jackson said. “We will stand shoulder to shoulder in prayer, discipleship, civic action, and wise security.”

Jackson said “radical Islamist extremism,” “hard-left” Democrat operatives, and “militant secular humanism” advance “hatred, division, and a culture of death.”

So, he called churches to strengthen security with volunteer “guardian” teams, to work with law enforcement, and to exercise their First Amendment right to free speech and Second Amendment right to bear arms.

“We won’t answer with bitterness or violence but with bold truth, lawful resolve, and with unbreakable solidarity watchmen on the walls – one Church, one mission, serving the risen Savior until the trumpet sounds,” Jackson said. 

“We grieve, we pray, and we rise because the gates of hell shall not prevail against Christ’s Church,” he added.